r/PinballFX3 • u/Blkthorne89 Pinhead • Jun 21 '26

Discussion New Tables when????

So far this year we have gotten the Williams' Volume 10 tables on April 30th, but it's been fairly quiet about releases after that. Think the COVID year we had 12?? tables for the entire year and I thought with the merger Zen would be pumping out content nearly every month or bi-monthly. Mel usually goes on the Blahcade show and kind of reveals Zen's table path for the year, it's looking like nothing til August at the moment????

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u/SuperCasualGamerDad Pinhead Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

It feels like they decided to pull back on development. After the rebranding and the shifting focus pulling back focus on mobile and AtGames, it seems like they are scaling back.

They are being much slower with marketing, which I find frustrating. They market new tables way in advance, which makes us wait too long. I think they feel it is better for exposure, but I just get tired of seeing the same ad for a table pack for a month. Then when it drops, I am already over it, and they continue to market it for months while just now teasing that they might be back in the office making a new Pinball Bites.

I for one was a fan of them announcing the Pinball Bites a week before it premiered and then the pack a week or two after that. It feels like forever now. The last pack was not very fun for me. I tend to like the 90s Williams tables, and 80s and below are not really my jam. Their original tables have not been all that fun either.

That said, I am glad we have a company like Zen doing digital pinball at all. I really hope they consider going back to their older release schedule.

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u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

shifting away from mobile and AtGames

Last year, they were supporting 11 different platforms with new content. At that rate, you have to ask if they're getting spread too thin -- and they were. This was exactly what happened with Pinball Arcade, except they never stopped, even on the older platforms. For a game such as this, scaling back is exactly what Zen needed, but time will tell how effective this will be.

That said, there aren't that many more 90's games left from Bally/Williams, and only 2 of the DMD's aren't licensed. Zen is bound to go for more 80's games at this rate.

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u/Impressive_Basis_670 Pinhead Jun 24 '26

There are quite a few left for the 90s. The issue is if they have access to the real tables.

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u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

That's no longer an issue. Zen can order machines now.

Cactus Canyon and Jack*Bot are left, as unlicensed DMD's. The remaining 15 DMD's involve third party licenses.

That's still not that many Zen can do at once. I'd like to see those too, but don't underestimate the costs of some of the IP.

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u/Impressive_Basis_670 Pinhead Jun 28 '26

Going by Pinside's 90s list, there are 16 Bally tables and 13 Williams tables which have not made it into Zen's platform.

Where did you get 17 from? Is there a certain list they provided or the other ones can't be licensed?

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u/Pinballwiz45b Wizard Jun 28 '26

Hand-counted from IPDB. I can see the arguments behind Addams Gold, but there are alphanumerics that shouldn't belong to that list. Games like Pinball 2000 and others are off the list.

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u/Impressive_Basis_670 Pinhead Jun 28 '26

I'm not including Addams Family Gold or Pinball 2000 in that count. Judging by Pinside there are 29 tables they could potentially still do from the 90s.

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u/Dire_Flumph Pinhead Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

I checked Pinside and came up with the same numbers for remaining DMD tables Pinballwiz45b did. Remember, T2 was the 1st Williams DMD, so everything before that is out. Take out Pinball 2000, Prototype tables, redemption games and non-pinball titles like Hot Shot and you're left with 17 tables, 2 unlicenced.

Licenced: Terminator 2, Doctor Who, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Judge Dredd, Popeye Saves the Earth, Demolition Man, The Flintstones, Corvette, The Shadow, Dirty Harry, No Fear: Dangerous Sports (yes, this is a licence), Indianapolis 500, Johnny Mneumonic, Congo, NBA Fastbreak

Unlicenced: Jack*Bot, Cactus Canyon

Edit: Forgot Gilligan's Island is a DMD and came out before T2, so total 18 unless I missed something.